A problem in the music download industry is that the cost and difficulty of downloading from legal sites are driving consumers to illegal music download sites. Advances in Internet, computer hardware, and software technologies have made it easier for users to find and illegally download copyrighted digital materials.
Some existing methods include legal music download services that charge a fee per download or a subscription free, legal media streaming services that charge a subscription fee to stream selected media to users' computers, sites that broadcast free media over the Internet sponsored by advertisers, and illegal download sites.
The words “media” and “download” are used to refer to any digitized content that can be stored in computers, and transmitted over the Internet. This includes digitized music, movies, music and other types of videos, e-books, audio books, e-magazines, and any other digital content that is copyrighted or not.
Today's consumers, armed with broadband Internet access, have a need to download and carry their media with them on portable devices, such as Apple's iPod and other mp3 file players.